Arturia DrumBrute Impact - Drum Computer

Product Information

Snare 1 sounds like it’s based on DrumBrute’s, but with the controls re-imagined. It’s 808-esque, with body tone and noise (snap) components. The original had granular control over the tones of the body and noise, as well as the decay and level of the latter. The Impact Snare circuit has fixed tones for the body and snap, a Decay knob which only affects the snap, and a Tone/Snap knob which crossfades between the two. Color mode pitches up the body tone. This is more limited overall but does mean you can almost make a pure noise sound.

The Arturia DrumBrute Impact is a small-but-mighty drum machine boasting full-size controls, super-fast workflow andraw analogue drum sounds. Raw Power and Monstrous Tone If you’re looking at purchasing one of the Drumbrute machines it can be a bit confusing to know which one to plump for so in this article I will compare the two and offer some opinions and advice and hopefully this will help you decide which of Arturia’s drum machines best suits your needs.

Still need help ?

The device is considered as user-friendly as all the pads, rotary buttons, and ports are clearly labeled. I had a drumbrute and replaced it with the impact, and I think the impact sounds better, but not just because of the distortion.

Step Repeats (‘ratchets’) can be added to existing gates using the same convention of holding the step button. While a step is held you’ll see its number of triggers light up on the Step Repeat LEDs above the Looper/Roller touchstrip. You can change this from the default 1, to 2, 3 or 4 by tapping the zones on the strip. Repeats are divided evenly into the sequence step, so a setting of three will produce a fast triplet. This is a great feature often overlooked by more expensive machines.Get away from computer screens, say goodbye to sub-menus, and jump into the world of tactile satisfaction. Connect to your other gear, sync up, and make some music the old-school way. Featuring a huge array of sync and connectivity options, you’ll be able to hook up and jam with practically any other synth, sequencer, or MIDI-enabled instrument. Save your patterns, chain them together, and create full songs and live sets. DrumBrute Impact is a massive sounding, creativity fueling beast, with effortless workflow and amazing performance controls. Key Features Sharing the same prize-winning, prize-fighting sequencing architecture of the original DrumBrute, you’ll love the simple, fun, and intuitive sequencer in DrumBrute Impact. Create complex phasing polyrhythms and straight, pounding rhythms; record a finger-drumming performance; punch in a step-sequenced masterpiece; everything is a joy. Use the touch strip to create some real-time glitchy, beat-repeat breakdowns, spice up a single instrument or your whole pattern with a dedicated ‘Random’ knob, and add some syncopation and groove with the ‘Swing’ feature. Addictive hands-on fun Each drum sound also offers Tone, Decay, Pitch or Level controls (depending on the sound type) so you can craft the perfect sonic palette on the fly. Addictively fun, intuitive and easy to getmeatydrum and percussive loops going -straight out the box. Drumbrute Impact is a game-changer for an analogue groovebox that won't break the bank. Output distortion: rich, specially voiced distortion on the output to add some filth when you need it, and bypass when you don’t.

Arturia's Drumbrute Impact boasts the unique tonal signature punch and sizzle of it's distant cousins - the Minibrute 2Sand Microbrute, as well as the seamless sequencing architectureof the original Drumbrute. 10 high-energy, refined drum tones provide the foundation of an electronic drum kit for any style of music. Yea I tend to agree - I LOVED the interface and the feel of the device as well as the knobiness but the sounds just weren’t that good with exception of what you mentioned. The hi hats were particularly unusable for my taste. Everything from straight forward pounding rhythms to more complex phasing polyrhythms, you’ll enjoy every moment of the step-sequencing thanks to the intuitive controls that removes the obstacles between you and your music.

Hot topics

Upon taking the DrumBrute out of the box, we were impressed by the weight and overall build quality of the unit. Our eyes were drawn to the large pads at the bottom of the machine, which are satisfying to bash and pleasingly firm and springy. The Drumbrute has a ‘Zap’ part while the Drumbrute Impact has a capable FM Drum part. Of the two the ‘Zap’ part is the least interesting and is not ‘Zappy’ enough for my tastes. Don’t expect the Zap effects to send clubbers running for cover – it’s an adequate but pretty tame affair and something of a missed opportunity in my opinion. The Impact’s sequencer will be familiar to anyone who has used a drum machine. Steps can be input in real time or while the sequencer is stopped. Handily, there’s the ability to record without quantization, which immediately gives the DrumBrute Impact a leg up over much of its competition that is tied to a 16th note grid. Copying, saving, and erasing patterns are all simple affairs. Thankfully, there is a metronome with its own separate volume control, as well as individual buttons for mute and solo. Patterns can be captured as live recordings from the pads simply by engaging the record button in the transport area at the top. Live recordings align to the grid, based on the current pattern’s resolution (16ths by default), unless you toggle the Record button into Unquantised mode. The pads are velocity sensitive as far as MIDI output is concerned but the sounds themselves play at just two levels: Accented and non-Accented. Live Recording is clever enough to capture the sequence with Accents based on a velocity threshold. Taken together, we really like the sounds of the Impact. It’s perhaps not the most sonically flexible drum machine on the market, but producers of certain electronic genres will find a lot to like. To our ears, these sounds lend themselves most to rugged analogue house and techno, but there’s also enough punch and bass for hip-hop production too. Individual sounds can sound a little dry straight out of the box but we don’t find that too problematic.